Slay the Beast

You wake up, you are feeling confident in your ability to EAT RIGHT, DANG IT! Nothing will stand in your way! You will conquer this food business once and for all, starting today! NOW!

Breakfast: No problem. You measure out your whole wheat fiber filled cereal, count your walnuts, add your flax seed, add just the right amount of skim milk. Success.

Mid-morning Snack: Still going strong. You have a gorgeous pink lady apple and exactly ½ cup reduced fat cottage cheese. Protein? Check. Complex carb? Check. Success.

Lunch: You are on a roll! Go girl! You have fresh produce from your shopping trip that morning. A fresh salad jam packed with as many veggies you can fit in the bowl. Top it with some baked chicken (protein!) from last night and a spoonful of feta. Oh, and you even measure out your reduced balsamic vinaigrette. You enjoy each bite, you are eating like a queen! Success!

Afternoon Snack: Kids are home, homework, baby is up from the nap. The previously spotless house is now trashed; you feel your stress level rising. Laundry needs to be switched and dinner needs to be made. And you are hungry…Here is goes, it’s coming, it happens every day right at this time:

CRASH AND BURN!

You crave sugar, sugar, sugar -- NOW. In any form, in any fashion. You start scrounging and stuffing anything in your mouth: animal crackers, Wheat Thins, fruit snacks, frosting left over in the can from that cake the other night, the ice cream that was hidden in the back of the freezer, handfuls of chocolate chips, topped off with the Starburst you have stashed for emergency situations.

Ugh. From this point on, it is seems impossible to pick yourself and your confidence off the ground. You blew it –AGAIN – so for the rest of the night you just throw in the towel. What’s the point? You proceed to over eat at dinner, then eat more junk after the kids are asleep. Then go to sleep feeling like a failure and vowing to only eat carrots the following day.

Sound familiar?

Man, that late afternoon is a beast. It comes alive around 3:00 PM or so and is so raging mad that it takes over and robs you of all the hard work you've done earlier in the day. What to do? How can you slay the miserable monster?

Let me introduce your knight in shining armor: the protein shake.

For a shot of sweet, some calcium, and great whey protein – make yourself a luscious shake every afternoon and beat those raging afternoon cravings. Most health magazines tell you to have a protein shake after you workout, however I’ve done this for years and:

1. I don’t want it at 10:30 AM. It is too much for me then.
2. I neeeeeeed it to get through the afternoon rage.

Here’s my simple recipe:

From September 2009

1 scoop EAS Whey Protein powder (I buy mine in bulk from Costco or Sam’s)
1 cup skim milk
½ c frozen blueberries (again from Costco)
A packet of stevia sweetener
4-5 ice cubes

Blend for 3 minutes (it adds some fluff) into a seriously huge, ridiculously satisfying shake all for a grand total of 185 calories. Mine fills up my cup twice – and yes! I eat the whole darn thing--with a spoon--and don’t even ask me to share!

Don’t be afraid to change up the fruit (peach, strawberries, etc.). I typically use the blueberries just to get those antioxidants in for the day. Just watch it calorie wise, a protein shake’s calories can spike upwards before you know it. Want chocolate? We also buy the chocolate flavor and when a chocolate craving attacks, I’ll use that with a tablespoon of low sugar chocolate syrup. A Snickers bar can’t even compete!

From September 2009